bbciplayerlogo.gif The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has unveiled its online service, iPlayer, last week. The emergence of iPlayer service is considered a significant change in broadcasting industry. BBC Director General Mark Thompson comments the arrival of the “on-demand” iPlayer is as important as the first color broadcasts in the 1960s.

BBC iPlayer is in its final testing stage. Its Beta version allows the registered users to catch-up and downloads many programs on the last 7 days of BBC Television to their computers. Viewers can choose from 400 hours of programs, between 60 and 70 percent of the total TV output, including hit shows such as “EastEnders, “Doctor Who” and “Planet Earth”. The Beta Version is free for people who are staying in Britain at this moment. However, people will not be allowed to save permanent copies to their computer. It could take 30 minutes to download an hour-long show. All programs downloaded will be automatically deleted after viewing or after 30 days. There is copyright protection software to prevent the copying of shows.